Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement goals

New open-access book presents 2 years of research on how to best tackle climate change and its negative effects, funded by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation as part of its new One Earth initiative

Credit: Springer International Publishing

In October of 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its starkest warning yet: The consumption of fossil fuels, the reckless destruction of forests and other natural ecosystems, and the release of powerful greenhouse gases have already caused around 1.0 °C of warming above preindustrial levels.

“Science is showing us the way forward, but you do not need to be a scientist to understand that climate change is the defining issue of our time. If our world warms past 1.5 °C, our way of life will profoundly change for the worse. Why not manage the transition in a way that is orderly and equitable? Human beings caused this problem, but with our vast knowledge and ingenuity, we can also fix it. We are resilient. We can adapt. We can change,” writes Leonardo DiCaprio in the foreword to the newly published book funded by his foundation. Published by Springer as an open access resource, Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement Goals is freely available and can be read here.

Based on state-of-the-art scenario modelling, the book provides the vital missing link between renewable energy targets and the measures needed to achieve them. Its robustly modelled scenarios indicate how to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050, globally and across ten geographical regions. Therefore, it clearly demonstrates that the goals of the Paris Agreement are achievable with current technology, and are beneficial in economic and employment terms.

The research presented in the book provides a ground-breaking new framework by offering a feasible roadmap for achieving–and surpassing–the targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement. The findings are the result of two years of research and modelling by leading scientists from the University of Technology Sydney, the German Aerospace Center, and the University of Melbourne, and were funded by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation as part of its new One Earth initiative.

The book is an essential read for anyone who is responsible for implementing renewable energy or climate targets internationally or domestically, including climate policy negotiators, policy-makers at all levels of government, businesses with renewable energy commitments, researchers and the renewable energy industry.

The lead author is Dr Sven Teske, Research Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS-ISF). Dr Teske has 25 years’ experience in technical analysis of renewable energy systems and market integration concepts. He was also authoring a chapter for the IPCC Special Report Renewables. Together with his international research team, he presented his ground-breaking new framework from this book at the World Economic Forum in Davos.